The Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Is Escalating and IDF Warns It's Just the Start

The Israeli air force is bombing Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanon after the militant group fired dozens of rockets at military bases and border towns.

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Israel Defense Force (IDF) Chief of Staff told local officials Wednesday that despite the strikes, there was a “long way to go,” before the border with Lebanon would be quiet and the tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from the border area would be able to return.

“There are very great achievements in hitting Hezbollah in Lebanon, but we continue to act,” he said. “This is not the point to stop. There is still a long way to go.” 

The exchange began on Wednesday morning when Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon fired multiple rockets at key military facilities including the IDF’s northern command and an air force base at least 20km inside Israel’s border, killing one person and wounding nine. 

The attack is the largest escalation yet of the clashes between Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, and Israel, which began days after the October 7th attack by Hamas and its allies in Gaza, on Israel. 

"Numerous launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into the areas of Netu'a, Manara, and into an IDF base in northern Israel,” the military said in a statement according to the YNet news site. “The IDF struck the sources of the fire." 

Since October both sides have been carefully calibrating their attacks and responses to avoid a regional war. 

Hezbollah’s move immediately drew massive criticism, directed at embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from right wing members of his cabinet, who have demanded stronger action in both Gaza and Lebanon to suppress Hezbollah, Hamas, and other Iranian backed allies but now seemed to call for all out war on Hezbollah.

“These are not drips,” tweeted Itimar Ben Gvir, a right wing-firebrand and the current Israel Security Minister, referring to what he saw as significant attacks. “This is war.”

“The red line became a white flag - the war cabinet surrendered to Hezbollah and lost the north,” also tweeted Avidgor Liberman, a former Netanyahu ally turned rival.

Military officials immediately announced that Israel would retaliate and not limit the strikes to the launch sites used in the attack. So far concerns about a broader war have generally limited both sides' attacks and retaliation in the increasingly tit-for-tat conflict. 

By Wednesday afternoon, the IDF said it was conducting “broad strikes” throughout South Lebanon. The Lebanese media announced at least four people had been killed in Israeli attacks on half a dozen towns and villages that continued on Wednesday afternoon.

“The [Israelis] are bombing all over the south,” Abu Ali, a resident of the southern city of Nabatiyah about 20 km from the border, told VICE News “They are targeting the resistance from [eastern] Shebba to [the coastal city of Tyre].”

A Hezbollah official refused to comment directly on either of the attacks but said Israel had further escalated the conflict.

“[Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah has said there will be no pause to the resistance operations so long as the [Israelis] continue to massacre the people of Gaza. They will not sleep in safety as long as Gaza suffers.”

Close allies with Hamas under Iranian tutelage, Hezbollah entered the conflict a few days after October 7 after Israel began a massive bombing campaign that became an all out ground invasion against Hamas in revenge for the attacks that killed about 1,200 people and saw at least 240 kidnapped by the Gaza-based militants. 

Although Hezbollah’s opening of a second front has put massive pressure on the IDF, which has mobilized over 300,000 reservists, the fighting has been mostly limited to small scale attacks and responses that have killed a handful of Israelis and, according to Hezbollah, about 200 of its fighters and allies. 

French negotiators have repeatedly attempted to propose a diplomatic solution to fighting on this front, which has been the worst since the 2006 summer war between Hezbollah and Israel. Solutions have included key Hezbollah units being withdrawn from the border and replaced by the Lebanese Army. But Hezbollah’s chief, Nasrallah, has repeatedly refused to discuss an agreement so long as the Gaza conflict continues.

“Except for some right-wing extremists in the cabinet, nobody wants a regional war, at this time,” said an Israeli security official who would not speak on the record criticizing the government. 

“But that doesn’t mean a regional war won’t happen. Israel has a very weak leader in Bibi who might not be able to resist his more militant coalition partners. And of course our enemies in Hezbollah and Iran might also decide on the timing [to start a war].”